WASHINGTON _ Nearly 23 months ago, the Braves won a game at Nationals Park. They didn't accomplish that again until Friday, when they finally snapped a 14-game losing skid that was the franchise's longest at any ballpark in more than 60 years.
Freddie Freeman drove in four runs with a double and a three-run homer in a 8-5 win against the Nationals at Stephen Strasburg to open a three-game series. It was the first time the Braves won at Nationals Park since Sept. 10, 2014, when Aaron Harang was the winning pitcher and Strasburg the loser.
In between those two games, Strasburg was 5-0 with a 0.85 ERA in five starts against the Braves, including two wins at Nationals Park.
Mike Foltynewicz (6-5) wasn't particularly sharp, allowing five hits, four runs and two walks in 5 2/3 innings and trailing 3-2 after four innings. But Freeman's three-run homer off Strasburg (15-3) in the fifth inning put the Braves ahead for good, and Anthony Recker added a two-run in the sixth inning on the first pitch from reliever Matt Belisle to push the lead to 7-3.
It was Recker's first homer this season and Freeman's 22nd, leaving the big first baseman one shy of matching his career high. Freeman, who also had an RBI double in the first inning, improved to 14-for-34 (.412) with four homers and 13 RBIs in his career against Strasburg.
Jace Peterson also homered off Strasburg leading off the second inning.
The Braves have won 11 of their past 17 games including seven of 10 road games. They are 5-3 on a 10-game trip that concludes with two more against the Nationals this weekend.
It was just the second win for the Braves in their past 20 games at Nationals Park, where their 14-game losing streak since the beginning of the 2015 season had been the franchise's longest skid at any ballpark since the Boston Braves lost 13 in a row at Brooklyn's Ebbets Field in 1951-1952.
Friday marked the second time the Braves scored more than four runs in the past 15 games at Nationals Park the other in an 8-6 loss on May 9, 2105.
In addition to Strasburg's sub-1.00 ERA during the five-start winning streak against the Braves, he had totaled 31 strikeouts, seven walks and no homers allowed in 31 2/3 innings during that. But on Friday his results _ 5 1/3 innings, seven hits, six runs, two homers _ were more similar to the five starts he'd had against the Braves immediately before his winning streak against them.
He was 0-3 with a 7.66 ERA and seven homers allowed in just 22 1/3 innings in those previous five, a couple of those games played in oppressively hot conditions even worse than the 94 degrees and high humidity recorded at Friday's first pitch. Strasburg memorably succumbed to the weather in one afternoon game at Atlanta when the temperature soared above 100.
It should be noted, Strasburg had struggled in a few recent outings before Friday, particularly at home. He's now 0-3 with a 9.00 ERA in his past three home starts, after going 7-0 with a 2.86 ERA in his first 10.
In his past five overall starts, Strasburg is 2-3 with a 5.27 ERA and 28 hits allowed in 29 innings. This after going 13-0 with a 2.51 ERA and .195 opponents' average in his first 17 starts.
In Foltynewicz's first-ever appearance against Nationals, he didn't have to face injured Bryce Harper, though the way the reigning National League MVP has slumped in recent weeks it might not have been such a bad time to see him.
Freeeman entered Friday with a .317 career average and .394 OBP in 47 games against the Nationals, but was 1-for-22 (.045) with one RBI in his past nine games against them, an opening-day home run against Max Scherzer in Freeman's first at-bat of the season accounting for his only hit and RBI in that stretch.
But Freeman has wielded a hot bat for most of the two months, including a two-homer game Wednesday at Milwaukee. His homer off Strasburg was Freeman's fourth on the trip and 13th in his past 54 games, during which he's sizzled with a .330 average, 37 extra-base hits and 35 RBIs.
